A number of different pumps of the aforementioned type have been patented and commercialized in the prior art for the purpose of pumping water from a body of water on which the pump is deployed. In their basic form, each such pump comprise an engine or motor mounted atop a pump housing containing an impeller that is rotatably driven by a vertical drive shaft from the engine. An inlet opening of the pump housing via which liquid is drawn into the pump from the body of water is situated at a bottom end of the pump housing, and an outlet through which the liquid is discharged is oriented generally radially of the vertical rotational axis of the impeller. A ring-shaped or annular float closes around the pump housing and has sufficient buoyancy such that, when placed onto the body of liquid, the inlet opening of the pump housing is submerged in the body of water, while the engine or motor remains safely elevated over same. A flexible hose coupled to the outlet conduit from the pump runs from the pump back to shore so that the water pumped by the unit can be distributed to the desired collection point or distribution area.
Such pumps are useful in disaster relief applications (e.g. removing flood waters), oilfield applications, construction applications, forestry/firefighting applications, and agricultural applications such as draining of sloughs, supplying of water to livestock, irrigating of farmland or removal of water from flooded areas, although other industries such as forestry and construction can likewise benefit from use of such pumps.
Examples of prior art self-priming floating pumps are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,807 of Morrison, U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,664 of Kingsep, U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,902 of Eberhardt, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,612,721 and 3,470,822 of Evans et al.
To maximize portability and allow easy transport of a pump by one or two individuals, the pumps are typically of relatively small size, employing small scale engines that accordingly feature rather small onboard fuel tanks. Applicant has accordingly found that commercially available self-priming floating pumps are rather limited in terms of their uninterrupted operation time by the relatively small fuel capacity of the pump's existing fuel tank. That is, the run time of the pump between fuel top-ups is relatively low, often leading to the need to bring the pump back ashore for refueling part way through a large pumping job.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a fuel tank solution of greater capacity for self-priming floating pumps.